Johns Creek Food Truck Fridays return

Tech Park favorite
gives patrons reason
to get out and about

Patrons line up for a cheesesteak sandwich from Five Finger Philly. Johns Creek Advantage is again sponsoring Food Truck Fridays in Technology Park.

HATCHER HURD/Herald

It’s close quarters in those trucks serving up the food and keeping the lines moving.

HATCHER HURD/Herald

Hyatt Place staffers have it made in the shade under JCA’s huge tent. Director of Sales Patty Villareal-Wong, second from left, brought her crew in for some lunch alfresco. From left are Assistant General Manager Tarold Slaughter, Villareal-Wong, kitchen cook Carla Jimenez, Sales and Service Coordinator Megan Anderson and Chief Engineer Octavius Goodrum.

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. – After a break in July, Johns Creek Advantage’s Food Truck Fridays are back in Technology Park. If you missed it, the good news is it has two more Fridays to go in September and October.

The first Friday of the month from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. is still the time and the place to be on Technology Parkway, on the south side of McGinnis Ferry Road.

Johns Creek Advantage Executive Director Bethany Lavigno said the event has drawn as many as 500 visitors on a good day. Many take advantage of the walkways and walk to the empty lot across the street from the Saia building where the food trucks parked.

Last Friday, even with one truck Hors de Combat, Bollywood with Indian cuisine and Five Finger Philly dealing out Philly cheesesteak sandwiches, patrons were satisfied.

You have to feel for the guys and gals who work in the galleys of those trucks.

“It’s hot, really hot,” said Vivek Varadharajan in the Bollywood truck. “We’ll serve over 100 people today. When we do parties, we can serve 100 in a day.”

Lavigno says it is really popular with the employees in Technology Park.

“It’s something close by for all the people who work in those buildings. It’s a way the Johns Creek CVB can say thank you to all the people who work Technology Park.”

It’s a great change from a quick run to McDonald’s or Chick-fil-A. And you get to sit in the big shady tent, she said.

Hyatt Place Director of Sales Patty Villareal-Wong was one of those in that big shady tent. She said it was their first time to Food Truck Friday, but that she was enjoying it very much.

“We thought we would bring our whole team out here and bond,” Villareal-Wong said. “It was a fun event. I want to go back next month.”

She said it was a “real good experience” to get everyone out of the building for 30 or 40 minutes is a social atmosphere.

“It was a chance to get out and explore the area. And being together outside the hotel was very nice. It’s important to have the team interact in a purely social situation,” she said.